Guma Smart Card Technologies was formed in 2001. Since its inception, Guma has had an uncompromising focus on quality, as its ISO 9001: 2000 certification clearly shows.
It produced the first locally-manufactured phone card in 2002, and after two years, had manufactured, packed and shipped about 10 million high quality phone cards to its clients.
To date, Guma has produced a grand total of 93 million phone cards, with the 100 million mark just around the corner. This is indeed a momentous achievement, which has put Guma Smart Card Technologies on its way to becoming a world-class provider of quality phone cards.
An eye on quality
Central to Guma's quality assurance strategy is vigilance in the identification of risk at source within every one of its state-of-the art manufacturing processes.
Each process owner is well trained in the early detection of errors and knows how to prevent problems from escalating beyond control. Although this might lead to many spoiled cards as part of its production process, Guma would rather bear this cost than compromise on quality by passing on any deviations to the end-user. Its reputation for quality and service has become a personal mantra for its employees, and is backed up by an extensive sampling, inspections and testing process.
All cards must pass through the company's AQL testing requirement, upholding its commitment to a 99.95% guarantee that no product will leave with anything less than a 0.05% defect rate.
Building African business
Guma has strategically positioned itself not only to be commercially competitive but also to establish long-term partnerships and technical co-operation. The company is strongly involved in the development of telecommunications in East, Central and Southern Africa, and is building strong, local partnerships in order to provide the best technical and commercial service to its clients.
Guma is committed to delivering a service that goes beyond the norm and that exceeds customer expectations. It believes that building long-term relationships with its customers, and ensuring it adds value to their businesses, is the key to future success. Guma has, however, successfully garnered numerous new clients on the continent, including, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ghana and as far afield as Algeria.
Its six-year collaboration with its customers has allowed it to propose solutions adapted to the African market and the potential to expand its operations throughout the world, such as: - dedicated and secure logistical organisation from the manufacturing plant in Johannesburg to any destination on the African continent.
* Develop promotions and advertising for smart cards.
* Regional meetings organised with African operators to share strategies and technical issues.
Most importantly, it strives at all times to deliver on what it promises.
Innovations in production
Since it was purchased in 2001, the state-of-the-art plant has been continually updated. The building facility encompasses 3 000 square feet of manufacturing and storage space, where it produces cards for the phone card, GSM and CDMA markets.
Current capacity at the plant is between 3.5 million to 4 million cards per month on the smart card lines and approximately 5 million cards on the scratch card lines. Though the plant is normally operated at its full capacity and with quality being so rigorous, quantity is not being sacrificed.
Its investment has seen it move to third-generation equipment, which is an in-line, reduced production cycle from its predecessor. Installation of camera verification systems has eliminated visual inspections, thus increasing productivity. It has also introduced and produced “multi PIN” solutions for its scratch card customer, with great success.
Production engineering and technical consulting
Headed by Sam Chaba, the division is dedicated to memory card, GSM, CDMA and scratch card engineering and development. A team of highly qualified developers ensure that it keeps abreast with the latest technological developments and product engineering.
The team handles client data with high confidentiality and employs the best data security methods to ensure data integrity. The client data encryption is according to client specification. The division converts data for production and PIN verification to ensure data matches the correct order and specifications.
It prides itself with the best practices in network security as it is monitored 24/7 by a team of network security specialists. Guma has developed and implemented a disaster recovery plan that is of world standard, giving its clients piece of mind for their business continuity.
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